Hispanic Chamber to endorse Julián Castro for VP

The U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce will endorse Julián Castro for vice president on Saturday, the organization's president and CEO told POLITICO.

“Millions of people living in this country look to Julián as the gatekeeper of the American dream,” Javier Palomarez told POLITICO in an exclusive interview. He added the group is “happily endorsing him [Castro] for the vice presidency.”

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Castro, who is the Housing and Urban Development secretary, has endorsed Clinton and will appear for her on the trail in Nevada on Saturday and then make additional stops in Iowa and Maine. In October, the two appeared at a “Latinos for Hillary” event in San Antonio, Tex.

Before that rally, Clinton did a Q&A with Palomarez where said she would “look hard” at Castro as a possible veep.

Palomarez told POLITICO that while Castro is currently on the trail with Clinton, that doesn’t mean the group is endorsing the former secretary of state or any other presidential candidate yet.

“I’m not saying I’m not a fan of Hillary’s … but we’re not prepared yet to endorse any one of the presidential candidates,” he said. “I’ve had conversations with other candidates running for the presidency and they’re interested [in having Castro on their ticket.] We should wait and see where things land.”

Palomarez has hosted a series of Q&A sessions with candidates on both sides of the aisle, and the organization holds itself out as a non-partisan business organization. Republican poll leader Donald Trump is the only one who has declined to participate after a messy back-and-forth this fall. And they're ongoing — the organization invited Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio for a Q&A co-hosted with the Michigan Chamber of Commerce in March.

Palomarez hasn’t ruled out an endorsement for a presidential candidate on either side of the aisle — or even one of each — but he wants to focus on Castro for now.

The head of the USHCC said he wasn’t endorsing Castro because he was Hispanic, but rather because of his history of working with the organization since his time as mayor of San Antonio.

“As such we’ve grown to know him. We’ve seen him in action and feel very comfortable endorsing him,” Palomarez said, adding it wouldn’t matter if Castro was a Republican.

When asked by POLITICO if he ran the risk of upsetting Republicans with his announcement, Palomarez replied: “I would feel very sorry for the Republican who came to complain to me about choosing one side over the other, we have a proven track record of working with both sides.”

Correction: A previous version of this story said Castro would appear with Clinton, he will appear on her behalf.